As you well know, I love that which inspires worthy
dreams. I love decent folks. I believe there is always
something to gain in the company of noble souls.

Therefore -- and you have probably guessed it -- the
defeated man I want to present to you was a noble-hearted one.
One of those human beings whose pure and beneficent example
must be saved from oblivion. And yet, during the war that
tore America to pieces, this defeated man, while defending his
native land, fought, as you will see, for the South -- the
land of slavery.

You will discover with what deep conviction of obeying to
his sense of duty, with what heart-rending suffering he made
the ominous choice that decided his life.

For him, no more than for any other American, the war, in
its beginning, did not have as its principle objective the
suppression of slavery. No, he certainly was not pro-slavery
-- he who, long before, had already liberated all the slaves
of his estate ; but, grandson by marriage of George Washington,
raised with the faith in the principles on which the union of
the states had been built, he was convinced that on a land as
vast as America, it was necessary to maintain the traditional
independence of the states.

This independence was a protection against the eventual
encroachments of the central power. Defending it was, in his
eyes, defending state's rights, law, liberty, and so he took up arms.

I was reading recently a sad, but true, sentence which
lead my thoughts back to the painful crisis that General Lee
had struggled through between two contradictory duties.

"The most difficult thing during a revolution is not to
do one's duty, but to know where it lies."[2]

If my hero made a mistake, his loyalty has never been
questioned. Even his adversaries paid tribute to it when they
gave him a nicknarne, sweet to French ears : "Bayard
Américain"[3]

Such as he was, I want to acquaint you with him. I
believe it is good to show you, in these days of universal
intolerance, that men whose nobility is not easy to equal can
march under a flag that would never be ours.

Wherever God has given rise to great characters, are they
not our common assets ? Are we so rich that we can afford to
let our minds forget them ? To let our minds forget
invigorating examples ?

Whatever the name we give to the cause served by General
Lee, you will discover that, for him, it was the cause of his
country ; and you will consider him worthy of being known by
all those of us who hope intensely for the resurrection of the two great feelings which restore honor to dispirited nations,
love of duty, love of homeland.

If you conclude, from the narrative you are going to
read, that those two feelings reach their full power and
beauty only in the souls of believers who rest their
terrestrial virtues on their heavenly hopes, you will have
arrived at the same conclusion as I have.

And if, when you measure the accomplishments of devoted
men, your hopes for our country become more optimistic, if you
return to your tasks stronger and more devoted, our time, dear
children, will not have been wasted.

Convince yourselves that they must bear fruit, our bitter
memories. Everything has changed around us. Could we remain
such as we were in the past ? We haven't taken enough heed --
and this is not new -- of our duties towards our home land.
France was nothing more to us than a country full of charm,
where life was pleasant. We thought we had done all our duty
towards her when we paid our taxes, which paid the army.

Now we have received the lessons of suffering. We are at
the hour of vital resolution, of patient labor. From now on,
every child in France must have in front of his eyes, in his
mind, deep in his heart, a realization that he no longer
belongs to himself, but to a precise, sacred duty. That duty
has nothing to do with hatred nor vengeance. That duty is to
love our country with a devoted, active love. A love by which
one lives, for which one dies.

Comfort France ! Bring back to her that sweet glory that
mothers wish to receive from their children. Bring back to
her the crown -- all the crowns -- she wore in the past among
the nations. Rebuild her peaceful, learned, powerful -- rich
even, you might wish -- and pray God to restore in her the
feelings of faith and justice.

Nothing of what you will do to increase your
value, to extend your knowledge, to accomplish more,
will be wasted. A day will come when France will
harvest the fruit of all your efforts. The child who
takes pain over his science lessons -- the one who
molds his tongue to the harsh inflections of a
foreign language -- the young man who submits himself
to patient research, higher studies -- all of them
should be assured that they toil for their country.

The day the defeated hero I want to present to you felt,
after four years of fighting, that his broken sword was
falling from his hands, he did not weaken. Virginia still
existed. He should still work for her. Defeat taught him
neither hatred nor anger. It instilled into his heart only a
greater ardor -- a purer, deeper devotion ; and Robert Lee,
heir of Washington, glorious Commander in Chief of the
Confederate Armies, wanting to put his remaining strength into
the service of his country, chose to become president of a
college.

"I have seen," said he, "a great number of Southern young men die under my flag. I want to consecrate my life making
the survivors men with a sense of duty.